 Good morning and welcome on this truly momentous occasion for the Australian National University. My name is Grady Venville. I'm Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic and I'll be your emcee for today. It's my absolute pleasure to be welcoming you to our new Cambry precinct, which will surely become the new heart and soul of our beautiful campus. We're incredibly honored to have been gifted the name Cambry by the traditional owners of this land. And to officially kick off this proceedings today, I would like to invite representatives of those families, Dr. Matilda House and Mr. Wally Bell, accompanied by Karen Denny, Michelle House and Ruben House to welcome you to their country. Yeah, good morning everybody. And today, I really feel proud about the fact that the ANU is recognizing us as the original inhabitants of this place. It's taken a long time for somebody to take that step and I think it is rather a progressive one at that. They're naming a lot of their buildings using local language as well. And that in itself is a strong recognition of us as the local traditional custodians. And I do call myself a custodian. I'm not an owner of the land. I believe I'll never own the land. I'll be here to look after it and care for it, but I'll never own it. So I'm a custodian. Just to make you feel welcome on country, now my people have lived here for a long time, 25,000 years. And all their custom and our belief comes from that connection with country. So part of that cultural belief is our practice of welcoming people onto country. Now people have a misconception about what a welcome is. It's not somebody such as myself or Matilda standing up here and saying, welcome to country. We're also offering protection for you while you're on country. And we're doing that in two ways. The physical protection is being offered up by the spirit of the land and the spiritual protection is being offered up by our ancestral spirits. But for them to be able to do that, we need to make sure that they're here with us and being able to do that. So I make a bit of noise and I ask them to come and join us. And this is the way that I do it, if I'm trying to write. No, being an Aboriginal man and I work on country all the time, I can really feel the presence of those spirits with us. Hopefully you can too. I really want you to try and feel that presence because that will give you a better feel for country. Okay, so what's going to happen then is those spirits, like I said, are going to look after you all in two different ways. The physical sense, which is where the spirit of the land is going to make sure that while you're walking on country and exploring our beautiful place, that nothing happens there. But there's also the other side of it, which is the spiritual side. And that's where everybody in this room has got their own personal aura. And that gets affected at times. And you know, you feel sad, happy, or whatever. And that's because it's being affected by something. What we don't want is for bad spirits to be affecting you. We don't want that stuff on country. So that's where we get our ancestral spirits to safeguard you while you're here. And that's by having them look at everybody in this room at this very moment. And if they find any of that bad stuff, they grab hold of it and throw it off normal country. Where it goes, that's a bit of a problem, I guess, because it's probably been thrown over onto one of our neighbouring tribal groups, you know? So they've got their bad stuff going there, and they'll have to go for a ceremony to get rid of it as well. But the spirits then, what they're asking you to do while you're on country is respect this place that you're in. Look after it and care for it while you're here. And to also respect and be kind and courteous to other people that you meet while you're on country. So if you do these couple of things for you, for us, the spirits will harmonise with you all starting on Nunuwa Country. Dara Nuna, Dara Nunuwa, Nyamalundi. This land is Nunuwa land. And welcome. I'll well take this moment because we did have a third member with us, but unfortunately, Carl Brown passed away last week. And he was a good member of our team that bought all this together as well. He was a Nunuwa man. And he loved working on this country as well. Unfortunately, these things happen. And most unfortunate times as well. It would have been great for Carl to be here to see this come to fruition. But life is funny in a way, in the terms that it takes. So I want to make sure that everybody knows that Carl was part of this as well. With regard to the ANU itself, and I've already sort of said stuff about how they are setting quite some precedence in relation to recognising us as being the traditional custodians for this area. I myself personally am proud of the fact that they call upon me to engage with them in relation to those sort of things. It's important that they get the right story. I mean, there's lots of Aboriginal people that live here that come from right across Australia. But you have to talk to the right people for a country. And that's the most important part of it all. I might just leave it there and hand over to Matilda to do the thing, I guess. Thank you. I want to thank you all for being here today on the land of our ancestors. And I want to thank Wally for being here with us to help maintain the tracks that we are descendants of some very wonderful people. And I pay my respects to Kuma Jai Brown today and his family. And I want to say he did put a lot of work into the things what we're here today for and worked hard as well. I want to thank the ANU for the wonderful gift that you have given us today. You have worked with us through that most powerful centre in this university, the Jabal Centre. Who in the 1980s, when we were there to do the opening of the first step into Aboriginal country. And it was there that was respected and from this day on it will be respected always. I want to thank my grandson Ruben. Can you come up in now, please? You and Michelle. And I don't know... Where's your sister? Yeah. To thank you all for letting us be here on this occasion. A sad occasion as well. The Jabal Centre was situated here in the 1980s. And it's through them that the contact always have been here for the people of this country. We have had many directors there. But I'd also like to thank some wonderful guys there. Where are you guys? The Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor. You thought I forgot about you. You thought I forgot. Also, Ann Martin, can I say to you without the things that are happening in the last few months and all through this time to get this centre up and running and for the wonderful, wonderful work that's happening along the Canberra Creek. So we want to say to you, it's all welcome to partake in this beautiful part of the Australian National University. David Johnson, can you please come up here? I have to talk to him. You can play with him, Sticks Bubble. I'll get my grandson and us to welcome you all here and country today and I'll give you a blessing. Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt, please make yourself feel welcome up here with us. I forgot what I was doing. When you squeeze between two beautiful handsome guys, things get a bit blurry. But I'm here to do a wonderful, wonderful thing. And on behalf of myself and Wally and Kermit J. Brown, I'd like to present to you the count from us to you. So, Wally, you can do that wonderful gift. Wow. Thank you, Wally Matilda. David Johnson, Karen, Michelle and Ruben. I think we could all round of applause again for that. That welcome to country with such a fitting tribute to represent the partnership we have shared throughout this journey. Thank you very much. And thank you for not just giving the name Cambry, but the ideas, stories and history that you have shared with the Australian National University. Thank you. We look forward to continuing to grow our engagement with the Indigenous community through the opening of a bush food garden, the Indigenous fire pit and through the Indigenous artwork throughout the precinct. In fact, while this may be a new development, there has been much consideration in how we connect the roads, the buildings and meeting places and the great history and culture of the land and the university heritage. I'd like to invite the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Schmidt, to tell us more about this incredible journey. Thank you, Grady, and thank you everyone for coming out on this incredibly special day here for the Australian National University. I especially want to thank Wally, Matilda and, of course, in his absence, Carl Brown, for everything that they have done to help make Cambry the heart of our university. All of the Indigenous families have welcomed us and that welcome to country makes us feel like we belong, but it also means we feel indebted and we will live up to the promises we've talked about over the last several years. I also acknowledge the Honourable Mr. Peter Garrett, Senator Smith, the Chief Minister, members of the ACT Legislative Assembly, there's also members of the A&U Council, as well as the Chancellor, and I also note that my predecessors, as Vice-Chancellor Ian Young is here, I believe Dean Tyrrell is here, Deep Sani is visiting from the University of Canberra, and all sorts of other distinguished guests. Thank you all for coming. Today, as I said, is an incredibly important time for the University and it is important that so many people have come to join us in what is a celebration of many years' hard work. This has certainly been one of the most ambitious and significant single developments in the University's history and one that I am immensely proud of. It actually started well before I became Vice-Chancellor on Ian Young's watch. And we're doing this because the University campus plays a vital role, not only as a home for students, but also as a place for inspiration, creativity, debate, and innovation for world-changing researchers, inspiring our teachers, and the wider communities. Universities are a place that are a little different than any place else in a community, a place that we hope everyone can sit back here and reflect upon. Every person who walks on this campus contributes to the cultural and intellectual fabric of our community. The five new buildings have come out of the ground over the last 18 months, and those buildings will each represent something different to the people who work in them, study in them, utilize their services, or come to be entertained. And considering how we name our new streets and buildings, we wanted to make sure we honored those people who became before us and helped us become the institution we are today. Students entering the new Die Riddell Student Center may be looking for information or one of the many student support services available to our students. They will be reminded of the incredible work of Die who nurtured generations of A&U students and established many key welfare and advisory services for Anusa during her more than 35 years here on campus. We are exceptionally honored, I think, to have Die here today, so take a chance to say hello to Die if you have a chance to see her. Dr. Marie Ray is a prominent anthropologist, best known for research in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and for advocacy work for Indigenous Australians. And we'll become known to a whole new generation of our teachers and students who utilize the new teaching and learning spaces in the Marie Ray Teaching Center. Strolling along Caroline Lane Walk in between the Die Riddell Student Center and the Marie Ray Teaching Center, I encourage you to consider the incredible woman known as Queen Caroline Lane. She was a figure held in the highest esteem by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in her lifetime. She is related to many of the contemporary Nunawal and Namburi families who are the traditional custodians of the land here where we're meeting today. And just outside this building is Tagney Road named for Senator Dorothy Tagney, who was the first female member of the Australian Senate and served as the only woman on the A&U council from 1951 to 1968. And we have our own hawker-style laneway at the back of Chifley Library named Joplin Lane. Dr. Jemaine Joplin was a trailblazer in geology. Her drive and skills saw her make significant and enduring contribution to the field at a time when women struggled to forge careers outside of the home. Along with these new roads and within these buildings, we are excited to be welcoming so many new faces into the A&U family with our new bookstore, supermarket and a range of different service providers and a multitude of food and drink outlets. And I'm especially pleased to have helped along a wish from so many of our community by delivering a new pool for our campus community. We have waited a very long time. Today, you sit in the main hall of our new cultural center. This center includes a new cinema, a drama theater and this open space which will become a new destination to hear from the brightest minds and the biggest thinkers from around our campus, our nation, our region and the world. And it will transform by night to a thriving venue for bands and performances. We will hopefully regain our reputation for being Canberra's home for live music. As Australia's National University, we hold an important space here in the center of the nation's capital. In the development of this precinct, we considered not only creating a space of innovation and learning for our students and staff, but also how we could extend that sense of connection to our city and you, the Canberra community. Through the opening of University Avenue, we have created a direct link between the city and our campus. And we will welcome our extended Canberra family to join us for a coffee, read a book, watch a movie, attend a thought-provoking lecture, followed by a debate with friends and family, perhaps over a glass of wine. Or perhaps you will take the time to explore the many artworks that we have been fortunate enough to include within this precinct. Today, it is my absolute pleasure to unveil a bit of a surprise, a significant new addition to our collection that your sharp eyes may have picked up as you walked in. Generously donated to the University by the Reserve Bank of Australia, I am divided to reveal Sidney Nolan's Eureka Stockade. Hopefully the light will magically appear now. This piece was commissioned by the Reserve Bank's first governor, Dr. H.C. Nugget Coombs for the bank's Melbourne office. And as many of you are aware, Dr. Coombs was also one of the most influential founders of this university. He was a member of the university's interim council, later its pro-chancellor, and then its chancellor. Coombs was a friend of Nolan and commissioned this piece before he believed because he believed Australia needed to do more to recognize its great artists in significant moments in our collective history. The installation of the Eureka Stockade in the theatre preserves its integrity and ensures ongoing access by the public. And the new setting renews the life and meaning of this remarkable mural. This is indeed a monumental gift to the university in both scale and significant, and it is one that will surely intrigue and inspire our students, our staff, and I suspect many visitors. And it will enrich the cultural fabric of our campus for generations to come. Eureka Stockade of Coombs joins Nolan's much-loved masterpiece, Riverbend in the ANU Art Collection, which I encourage you to go look over at the Drill Hall Gallery. So I thank you once again to the reserve bank and its governor, Phillip Lowe, and his representatives here today, Susan Woods, assistant secretary, corporate services, and the bank's secretary, Anthony Dickman. I'd also like to thank David Fricker, the director general of the National Archives of Australia, for conferring with the bank and agreeing to the relocation of the artwork, as well as John Murphy for his efforts in making all of this possible. It's a major effort to get it here. We are deeply humbled by your incredible, generous donation, and let's thank them. All of this has, of course, been driven by the director of the Drill Hall Gallery, Terrence Malune, who has been here making sure that art is at the heart of Cambry. Last year, ANU received an amazing and significant donation of Western Desert Aboriginal art from Craig Edwards. And in the foyer, as you arrived, you may have noticed 10 striking panels from Nata Nunagari's iconography series. These panels are part of an epic cycle of 155 canvases by the artists very late in their life. The university is honored to have these pieces as part of our collection, and I'm sure you will agree that this is a more fitting place for them than center stage in the heart of this cultural center. I thank Craig and his family, Eva and Lachlan, for being here today and for their generosity, and let's give them thanks as well. We are indeed lucky to have many pieces of artwork here and during the walls of Cambry. If you wander out onto University Avenue towards Sylvans Creek Bridge, you'll have the chance to see a beautiful piece of artwork. It is a ground map that tells the story of our local Indigenous cultural landscape, featuring stories, connections, and cultural activity around Cambry. It includes recognizable features like the Malong Lo Valley and nearby mountains, including Black Mountain, Mount Ainsley, Red Hill, and Capitol Hill. Matilda House describes it as a map which brings people together as a linking place, speaking of the ancestors across the country. How we are not just here for us, but that this is about everyone and I want to thank and acknowledge the elders for this magnificent piece and thank them for this plaque which is a miniaturized version of what you can see outside. Please take a moment to see it and reflect. Now, as a world traveler, I have had the opportunity to visit the great campuses of universities around the world and walking out in Cambry, it is great to be setting our own standard, not Ivy covered halls of Harvard or the beautiful 12th century stonework of Oxford, but rather in Cambry we have a contemporary community space that takes its place amongst the finest in the world. It is truly us. This space is a credit to all the teams who have worked on the project from conception to delivery and we owe all of you our deepest gratitude and to everyone here today, I look forward to welcoming you back to Cambry many times with friends and families in tow so you can experience all that our university has to offer. Thank you, welcome and I look forward to seeing you all around here on a daily basis. Cheers. Thank you Chancellor and what an incredible piece of artwork and such an honour to have it displayed in this central place for us all to enjoy. Soon we will see this entire new space come alive with bands, concerts and theatre. Many of you here may remember the days of the former ANU Bar that sat in the centre of the previous union court. The ANU Bar was the one for hosting some now infamous bands. I often hear staff, students and the Cambry community still talking fondly about coming to see bands like Midnight Oil play at the bar. We're delighted to welcome the honourable Peter Garrett back to help us celebrate the opening of this new precinct. A proud alumni of the university Peter Garrett has made exceptional contributions to public service and to music in Australia. His achievements as a musician, agent for social change and as a politician have been an inspiration to generations of ANU students. I'm also proud to announce that later today Peter will be receiving a well-deserved honorary doctorate from the ANU in recognition of those achievements. Please join me in welcoming to Peter to say a few words. To the Indigenous families to all the distinguished guests here thank you for the invitation and congratulations. This is a marvellous vision and for somebody who was here many moons ago it's absolutely tremendous to see it realised. In fact I came down to Sydney to ANU to embark on an arts law degree also carrying an unfulfilled yearning to sing and make music a very long time ago. Looking back I consider my time at this place as amongst the best years of my life. The relationships that were formed the fact that the mind was being opened up the variety of experiences encountered the introduction to politics that memory of ANU has stayed with me fresh and vivid to this very day. So I'm delighted to be here because I think I have a sense of what a cultural epicenter which is what the Canberra precinct has been described as can really bring to everybody who comes through here in the future. And it's a great pleasure as well because Aboriginal people and their enduring culture have played such a central role in the formulation of Canberra and a role that will continue into the future as it should. In fact I'd like to think that Canberra can be an exemplar for projects of this kind right around Australia. Wherever we live, whatever we do as we learn, as we work, as we play still always mindful that we're occupying Aboriginal land. And it's well overdue that this primary fact isn't put to one side but rather gets embedded at the centre of all our actions. So congratulations on ANU for doing that. When I first tentatively reached out to a microphone and began singing I had no inkling of what lay ahead. The first ever performance of mine in the student band Devil's Breakfast later mercifully renamed Rock Island Line was on the other side of Solomon's Creek at Bergman College, then my home away from home. The second a few weeks later was a lunchtime concert in the bridge of the Union Building the old Union Building and we were on our way. I hasten to add that at that time I never played in the Union Bar. We probably weren't good enough we certainly weren't cool enough but a smattering of students about 25 in all of the world. So I had to listen gave me a sense of what it was actually like to play to an audience and at that time it was a high watermark in a very fledgling career. And thus began a 40 year journey a little known to some of you here following the subsequent formation of midnight oil with a decade interruption to serve on the house on the hill that took me from here and then subsequently with my mates of Australia, the clubs concert halls, footy fields and arenas right around the world and I remain eternally grateful that it was right here that my first band got to play right here that I got to learn my craft. And so it was for countless artists and bands including later the oils from that time on. And as has been mentioned the ANU Union Bar the union was one of the must do gigs it was crowded and it was chaotic to be sure but it was a great place to play to hear the latest sounds from the street the songs from the heart and I think we're going to have to dirty up this venue a little bit by chance or I have to say just to make it feel like it really should but I'm sure that will happen in time. The point was that this was the forum where the thoughts of study were suspended where an audience could be caught up in the magic of live performance it's a primal form of creative expression and it still predominates in popularity to this day but there's more to the picture as you've heard the links between arts and innovation are tangible. The capacity of creative output to contribute to the local and national economies is a fact never mind that in our country it doesn't always register in our reckoning as being important it is and so for Canberra there's a cultural bonanza in the making right here at Canberra now since that time as a bright-eyed student I've come to believe that the pulse of the nation the vitality of its people the character of its communities the success of its institutions even cannot be understood merely in material terms the metrics and key performance indicators and reports and reams of data analysis that predominate in today's complex world have their function to be sure but they are not the whole story I believe that creative expression across many fields is central to human experience adding a dimension to life that really does feed our spirit and the artistic endeavour whether it's high or low poets, painters, musicians at all is the ultimate descriptor it underpins our culture you know we tell stories rejoice in triumphs shine a light on injustice reflect on human frailty and so much more through this prism as much as we do in reflections on the daily bump and grind it's simply the stuff that gives meaning to what it is to be human so the arrival of the Cambry precinct with its provision for greater facilities for music performance for ideas, for artistic expression and participation is to be welcomed and celebrated and now in the shadow of Black Mountain with the hum of civic behind us and the debates in the parliament raging across the lake I hope there will be an outpouring of creative expression and plenty of music right here to enrich students and staff locals and visitors for decades to come thank you very much thank you Peter from one incredible musician to another I would like to now welcome Will Barton to the stage to perform Will has been playing didgeridoo for over 20 years he first started to learn the instrument in Mount Isa where he was born he was the 2012 area award winner for best classical music album Calcadango his passion is to create a journey for people through music to engage audiences with the uniqueness of Australia and he just told me last week he only returned from Gidea USA tour in Los Angeles and New York and on return he performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre of which he has been appointed artist in residence for 2019 and he just won the Sydney Theatre Awards for best original score for the main stage production for the long forgotten dream please join with me to welcome Will good day everybody how are you all good yes great honour for me to be here and I'd like to pay respects to our aunties and uncles here and our custodians of the land past, present and future education is a very important thing in everyone's life whether that be language or the art form of music or painting and how we draw inspiration from the landscape and how we convey that through our platform of expression which is the stage for us musicians and composers the piece that I'm about to perform is called The Fusion but I sing a language component within the work which I compose the lyrical component when I was 15 years old and it's about the passing of the culture for one generation to the next around the campfire in the night how the young billabilla the young children have to listen to our albums and then pass it on to the next generation of cultural ambassadors thank you have a great day of course the university precinct would not be complete without our students to bring it to life Cambry is now home to over 450 students who have started to move into Fenner Hall located just above us it's our intention that the Cambry precinct will also become a key meeting place for all our students and the heart of student community I'd now like to welcome Caitlin Fagerado as a representative of our student community to reflect on her expectations of our new precinct Caitlin describes herself as a passionate change maker and was recently named the youngest person to be chosen in the top 100 women of influence sponsored by Westpac and the Australian Financial Review her many honours include being invited to the White House where Michelle Obama named her global change maker for global equity Caitlin is studying a double degree in law and development studies here at ANU please join me in welcoming Caitlin to the stage thank you so much for having me I too would like to acknowledge that we're meeting today in this beautiful new space on Ngunnawal land and as a university student five years ago completely unaware of what university life was going to bring me but honestly the last five years has completely transformed my life now I don't know how I'm going to beat that incredible act so instead I'm going to tell you a really quick little story about the first time I stepped into Union Court I was 12 years old my older sister Jess who's from Korea arrived in Australia and she decided to take my little brother Carl and I into ANU because she wanted to show us what her life as an adult was going to look like so I remember walking past the creek and suddenly being blinded by all the concrete in Union Court as my eyes started to adjust I started looking around and I went to Jess is this really what university is like because I don't see anyone studying and she's like well no Kaitlyn you have buildings and you have colleges and you have faculties but this is a place where students no matter what their background and college faculties and Canberrans can come together in a melting pot of culture and beauty and intelligence and discover and connect and I'm like oh that sounds kind of cool so you know what will you be doing and she's like well there's a pub well since then it was my turn to come to ANU and I remember my very first day I started looking around and that same melting pot of culture is still there and today once again I walked up those stairs and I went into the new beautiful Canberra space and honestly I was blown away I was blown away for a number of reasons one because finally it's open so it will cut five minutes off my walking time but more importantly because there is this I don't know this beauty this vibe this aura about the space if you take a moment to sit and to listen and to look this is a place where not only respects the past and our traditional custodians but also it is going to be celebrating our future of our nation so university students are going to be creating together and as a university student in my hopefully final year I am so excited to be able to have an opportunity to learn and engage and connect with my friends and experience everything that this incredible place has to offer because truly this is the heart of ANU this is where we all come together to experience and I am so excited because this is the place where I started my leadership journey it was couple meters down the road and I remember signing up to my very first leadership booth on O Week and since then in the last five years ANU has given me the opportunity to do absolutely incredible life changing things like work with the United Nations on global policy that affects over one billion young women and girls to having an opportunity to meet the Queen of England in Buckingham Palace to now being able to create a domestic policy for young people in Australia and I am only 23 but this is the opportunity ANU gives this is the opportunities that started right here in Union Court and I am so excited to see what this amazing space offers not only students but what the students can offer back to this amazing space thank you. Thank you Caitlin as the most significant field in the Australian National University's history the ANU Council have played a key role in supporting the project and I am going to invite Gareth Evans our Council chair, Professor the Honourable Gareth Evans is also the chair of the campus planning committee and has played an integral role in driving this development as part of our larger campus master plan please join me in welcoming ANU Chancellor, Professor Gareth Evans to say a few words colleagues and friends the establishment of this magnificent new Cambry precinct is the vital new beating heart of the university the name wonderfully gifted to us as you have heard by the elders of the none of all people past and present who's to whom I of course also pay my respects. The establishment of Cambry is by far the biggest single development in the seven decades since this university was founded. Projects of this massive size and complexity and world class quality don't just happen they're the product of years of in this case more than five years the planning of design construction and of transition management. It's my particular responsibility and pleasure this morning to thank at least some of the key players who have made all this happen. I couldn't possibly single out all of them because as well as the close to 2,000 men and women who have worked on this project in one way or another from conception to implementation including the more than 700 construction workers who at one stage were on site each day in addition to them there are literally scores who've played leadership roles in different aspects of the projects at different stages. There were and no doubt remain in the ANU community. Many who are very sentimentally attached to the old union court and it is hard to see disappear. Places where you've spent some of the best and most formative years of your life as we just heard from Peter Garrett. But I think most have been prepared to acknowledge in its last years union court looked and felt old, worn out no longer fit for purpose for the being the communal heart of the university and this was the perception that led to the decision of the university council which I chair back in 2013 to set about replacing it but implementing that decision in the course of which I have to say our chief operating officer Chris Grange has been the presiding genius throughout. Implementing that means overcoming a large number of challenges going beyond just emotional attachment. The first was to conceptualize what combination of buildings and what kind of broad configuration was likely to be necessary to meet the university's needs. Phil Heaney now with the project managers, Colony Six but involved with this enterprise really from the very beginning was the key in developing the union court master plan along with Joe Ruda of Civitas. The second challenge was to involve the wider university community in testing these concepts as they evolved contributing ideas about facilities and services and providing a reality check on what was likely to be acceptable. Kate Merrick at THI was the major consultant here conducting over a thousand interviews with staff and students under the very engaged internal leadership of our former deputy vice chancellor Manny Hughes Warrington and with the particularly close involvement of successive student leaders, especially Ben Gill, James Connolly, Elena Kay and Alyssa Shaw. The third challenge was to work out how the hill to pay for it all and here the financial wizardry of Chris Grange working with our former chief financial officer Alistair Sinton and the external staff and with intense involvement throughout by my colleagues on the finance and major projects committees came up with the solution of utilising through a long-term concessional arrangement the capital otherwise tied up in existing student accommodation buildings which released in fact $225 million plus for Cambry that you can see for yourselves today has been pretty well spent. The fourth challenge was to come up with a detailed design that brought all the different building elements together as a harmonious whole. This was the part of the enterprise with which I guess I was most closely personally involved some would no doubt think here as else we're too involved but I can live with that and I have to say that in my judgment and I hope and believe the overwhelming judgment of all of you here BVN with its design team led by James Gross and Ninochka Tachotsky supported by Aspect on landscaping issues have succeeded absolutely brilliantly. BVN has created exactly what the University Council asked for. Not a competitively shrieking cacophony of look at me buildings but a set of buildings while each is uniquely distinctive together do constitute an integrated ensemble of I think timeless elegance drawing inspiration as they did for both their form and their colour palette from the lovely old heritage Chiffley Library an iconic and new building as you all know which itself remains a core part of the precinct. There will be plenty of colour and movement and noise and vibrancy around these buildings but that'll come from the people using them not the buildings themselves. The fifth challenge was to engage project management and construction teams who could bring the whole enormous enterprise to completion on time and within budget. Overcoming inevitable setbacks along the way the biggest of them of course the huge floods which devastated us in February 2018 not to mention maintaining productive industrial relations with our good friends in the CFMEU I warmly thank really warmly thank in this respect for all the excellent teams from Lend Lease and Colony 6 they've all performed with outstanding professionalism and commitment as have all the guys and girls who worked on site worked through all the cold and the wet and the heat that Canberra can turn on to produce the buildings we now see with a pride in their craftsmanship which is really totally self-evident in the final product. The sixth challenge was to secure the approval of the relevant government authorities for the project which interfaces so directly with the life of the wider Canberra community. This was made easier to overcome by the compelling quality of the design teams product but I do want to express the university's warm appreciation of the cooperation shown by the ACT government and in particular the great support from the National Capital Authority not least through the close engagement from the outset of its former CEO Malcolm Snow. The seventh and final challenge was the huge task providing necessary transition facilities in the pop-up village and elsewhere during the two year construction phase and then managing the new occupancy of all these new spaces. There are far too many contributors here for me to be comfortable singling out anyone. Even the drill hall director Terrence Maloon who just happened to drum up some 20 million dollars worth of arts funding from Lake Edwards collection and as you've heard the reserve bank with the wonderful Sydney Nolan mural which as you can see those gifts just alone have set this cultural centre of light right from the outset. But while not going on to thank anybody else this is the point at which I can't not thank and congratulate and I don't think really any of us can thank him enough our absolutely unflappable ANU director of major projects Robert Hitchcock for his hands-on day-to-day supervision over the last three years of the whole enormously complex project through all its implementation stages. So it's through the huge contribution of everyone I've mentioned individually and many others as well not least all my colleagues on successive university councils including former pro chancellor Robin Hughes who was fantastically influential in developing the concept of this cultural centre and the two vice chancellors of course bringing this project to fruition Ian Young and Brian Schmidt it's through them that we have achieved this breathtaking absolutely world class and I believe world leading development that we're opening here today the thought I want to leave you with however is this is only the beginning with the opening of Cambry and the opening last week of the new Bruce and Wright halls the magnificent products of the vision of generosity Graham and Louise Tuckwell on a role so far as the future physical development of this campus is concerned on a role in terms of creating the unrivaled campus experience that our strategic plan demands the new campus master plan which the campus planning committee and external consultants have been working all last year is just about complete and will be unveiled in the next few months this will guide us over the next two decades more in transforming the whole physical fabric of ANU concentrating new development around five clearly defined hubs of which this Cambry will be just one albeit the mother of them all creating grand new gateways to the university particularly University Avenue the transformation of which has already taken a huge step forward as you can see with this project bringing greater harmony and elegance to our future architecture using the Cambry design pallet as our guide transforming the circulation system by pushing out cars to the perimeter and giving absolute primacy in the center of this campus to pedestrians and bikes and making far more than we ever have before of our greatest physical asset here at ANU our fabulous natural bush setting so we can all be hugely proud of what we've collectively achieved with Cambry it's a fabulous milestone in the life of this university but ANU, Cambra and the nation you ain't seen nothing yet